Episode Details
Back to EpisodesThe Law at the Bedside: Ben White on Advance Care Directives and Voluntary Assisted Dying
Description
What happens when the document meant to protect your wishes is filed away where nobody can find it, or worse, ignored altogether when it matters most?
In this episode, I'm joined by Distinguished Professor Ben White, Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation in the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at Queensland University of Technology. A Rhodes Scholar with a DPhil from Oxford, Ben has spent his career researching the gap between what end-of-life law says on paper and what actually happens at the bedside. He's authored over 250 publications, co-authors the End-of-Life Law in Australia website, and is currently leading an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship on regulating voluntary assisted dying.
We talk through the three legal tools everyone should know about (advance care directives, enduring powers of attorney, and default substitute decision-makers), why advance care directives so often fail to be followed even when they exist, and the very human reasons families and clinicians clash at the bedside. Ben also walks us through voluntary assisted dying now that the Northern Territory is on the verge of becoming the final Australian jurisdiction to legalise it, what conscientious objection looks like when it works well and when it doesn't, and why a Commonwealth law about phones and faxes is still forcing dying patients to travel for care that could otherwise happen by telehealth.
Remember; you may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.
Take care,
Catherine
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